Abundant and cheap bandwidth is
about to transform the Internet. WWW will no longer stand for
world-wide-wait. Abundant bandwidth will allow you to send and
receive video, audio and data with astounding speed. Current
modems and ISDN lines will be obsolete. Bandwidth will increase
100 times faster than the increase in microprocessor speed. Cheap
bandwidth will spur global economic growth and create unlimited
opportunities.

If this sounds good to you, this is just the beginning of some
very interesting thoughts that were shared with me last week
by Mr. Claud Matney, a telecommunications engineer with Municipal
Utility Digital Design, a Bozeman Montana firm.

The backbone of the communications net is being aggressively
constructed between cities, states, and nations. Industry is
upgrading the transport layer and laying thousands of miles of
optical fiber. But, according to a recent Report to Congress
on the development of the Information Superhighway,  the
on-ramps that will link the high-speed portions of the national
information infrastructure with homes, businesses, and institutions
continue to form a bottleneck to high-speed information flow.
In the near term, the primary challenge will be to provide broadband
digital services over the existing plantthe hundreds of
thousands of miles of copper wire and coaxial cablealthough
ultimately it may be preferable to provide fiber optics to each
residence.

If you have a connection to the Internet utilizing a 28.8 K bps
modem, a 128 K bps ISDN connection will be 4.5 times faster.
But, a 768 K 2.0 Mbps HDSL with PairGain connection, available
today, will be six times faster than the ISDN an improvement
factor of 2560. With this connection you will have the speed
to handle full motion, two-way color video conferencing, and
integrate all of your communication devices, telephone, television,
radio and computers, into a one source data connection. Clearly,
fiber optic cable to each home and business is the solution to
your demand for broadband access to the world.

With a fiber optic connection to your home or business, the possibilities
become exciting. Tele-commuting to work reduces air pollution
and the need for more roads and bridges. Two-way full motion
video conferencing would allow you to attend a college class
and fully participate, as if you were in the classroom. Remote
video monitoring of your business or home while you are away
would be easily accomplished.

The change will have great impact on many businesses, as we know
them today. For example, look for a revolution in outdoor advertising
in the near future. The technological breakthrough made by Texas
Instrument with digital light processing (DLP), will allow commercial
outdoor advertising to display anything that can be created on
a computer. A regional office can update and/or automate the
feed of any content to any billboard on their system, if the
billboard is connected to the fiber optic cable.

Think about the digital domain effects that may impact your life.
What impact will the fiber optic connection at your business
or home have on your real estate property value? Will your home
or commercial property value be significantly lower if you lack
the high-speed digital connection which prospective buyers require?
Years ago some communities suffered irreversible decline when
the railroad passed them by. More recently, the business communities
of some towns have died when the interstate freeway passed them
by. Today most businesses and homes have only telephone lines
and these connections are increasingly inadequate.

Who will provide your connection to the information super-highway?
Some say it will be the Telephone Company with modems operating
over existing copper wires. Some say it will be the cable companies.
Some think that the electrical and gas utility companies will
provide the service. Claude Matney insists that the best entity
to provide your access to the high-speed fiber optic cable is
the same organization that provides you with streets, sewers
and water. Consider his analogy:

You get into your car to go to the movie, to work, to the
store, or on vacation. On your trip you may choose to pass over
toll roads that get you where you want to go faster and safer.
But what if the road at the end of your driveway was privately
owned? What if you had to contract with the cable company or
the electric utility to leave your house because they owned the
street? That would not be acceptable. Neither is being dependent
on a private entity for your data highway. You may choose to
go to toll roads which take you to special places, and may be
glad to pay for the destinations they provide, but your drive
to the corner market, the hospital, your childrens school,
or the toll way on-ramp must be publicly controlled.

You are at risk of having a fiber optic information super-highway
that ends about a mile from your home or business. There the
access changes to a barely passable dirt road. Cities will soon
be inundated with requests for right-of-way-access from emerging
data and communications service providers. Failure to initiate
an organized planning effort will result in a reactive piece-meal
approach.

Seattle, Boston, Austin, Anaheim, New York and Tulsa are among
the larger cities that have taken the lead in determining services
and promoting development of the last mile connection.
Smaller cities and towns throughout the country are also working
on the opportunity. See: (http://www.webcom.com/pcj/it-nf/itn-c.html)
Now is the time for communities that offer a clean environment
and a high quality of life, to attract the new generation of
information economy workers that will build their economy without
degrading their environment.

You may be surprised to discover how much fiber optic cable has
already been laid by various organizations in our city. The lack
of connections from this backbone to our homes and businesses
will become quickly evident upon closer inspection.

Mr. Claude Matney proposes that we develop a Community
Telemanagement Plan. This plan would inventory our existing
telecommunications infrastructure and plan for the development
of our communitys connections to the Information Super
Highway. If you would like more information in this regard, contact
me and I will see that you get a copy of the Community Telemanagement
Plan Proposal for the City of Bozeman, Montana.--Will Murray